


in their well-fitted black and white

by noobishere



Series: Kingsman au [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Kingsman AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-25
Updated: 2015-04-25
Packaged: 2018-03-25 14:10:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3813463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noobishere/pseuds/noobishere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“So, this Kingsman thing, what’s it about?”</p><p>“It’s a secret service, where you sort of have to do stuff like saving the world. But secretly.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	in their well-fitted black and white

**Author's Note:**

> a friend of a friend said something along the line of 'imagine kurodai in kingsman', and it spiralled off into this monster. i've never written anything this long, please forgive. i got carried away. 
> 
> ('tis for you boo, so you better enjoy it. i broke my brain writing this.)
> 
> i'd like to thank my friend, sarah, for reading this over, if not i'd be constantly doubting myself. any remaining mistakes are my own. 
> 
> also, this is only loosely based on Kingsman. so. have fun guessing who's who, i guess.

  


“For fuck’s sake, Bedivere, Kay,” A voice crackled through their earpiece as both the aforementioned duo was frantically running for their life. Their dash to safety was accompanied with the same voice berating and insulting them for being so stupid and reckless, and the sounds of gunshots being aimed at their running persons.

Both Bedivere and Kay were cackling, finding this not the least bit worrying; enjoying the exhilaration of hanging onto dear life while completing their mission in a very cool manner.

“Seriously,” Galahad sighed, rubbing his temple as he addressed their recklessness at the round table back at Kingsman. “Who the hell says ‘Surprise!’ to the enemy at their own fucking lair, _while they’re all armed up?!_ ” 

Everyone else at the round table was just listening in on the lecture, too used to Bedivere and Kay messing up their mission. Well, they managed to get the thing, but less inconspicuously, of course.

“The Kingsman is supposed to be stealth and swift, not loud and reckless.” Galahad finished his lecture, arms now crossed against his chest, glaring at the both of them, but especially hard at Bedivere who was not taking this seriously at all. At least, Kay was sheepish and rubbing the back of his head apologetically; Bedivere was anything but. He was waggling his eyebrows and grinning all smug, trying to provoke more anger from Galahad. 

“Look, we got the job done didn’t we, Daichi, stop getting your pants in a twist.”

Galahad’s eyebrow twitched at the mention of his real name. 

“First, _Bedivere_ , we must always address each other by our nicknames whenever we’re at Kingsman.”

Bedivere shrugged, while the others looked at him in horror for even daring calling Galahad by his own name. Galahad is starting to exude this ominous air around him and the entire conference room; it was getting a bit too suffocating.

“Second, we must always,” he stepped closer towards both Bedivere and Kay, the latter was already quivering in fear, and loomed over them with his ominous aura, because literally looming over them was physically impossible for him, “always, to our upmost ability and power to keep this service a secret.”

At this, Bedivere seemed to sober up a bit, standing up to his full height; at attention.

“What you two did almost put all of us in danger.” Knowing that he’d finally gotten the point through, Galahad continued in a quieter voice, “And you both almost got yourself killed.” 

The room went completely quiet. The implication of that statement hit too close to home; they’ve lost one of the knights, Lionel, in a recent mission, one that wasn’t even that high of a rank but mistakes happen, even to the best trained agents.

The silence was broken by someone clearing their throat. All eyes trained to the head of the table, the leader of the entire service; Arthur.

Arthur sat there just listening the entire time with a calm face; there was not a single frown on his expression, and there was not a smile on it either. 

That was cue for everyone to take their respective seats at the table.

“I think Galahad had said everything I wanted to say,” he started. A kind smile then slowly lit up his face, the same smile they were all used to, “Although I don’t agree with your actions, Bedivere, Kay, I’m really pleased you’re still here with us.”

There was a collective mutter of apologies from the two, before Arthur turned his attention to Merlin, silently asking him to brief everyone on the mission that had just taken place.

Merlin stood up, adjusting his glasses and tapping at his tab, “Glasses, please, everyone.”

Once everyone’s donned their glasses, Merlin gestured to the wall and started his usual drill of what went on the mission together with the mishaps, displaying recordings that were deemed important for future references and other confidential information regarding their subject. When he read out the casualty statistics, everyone let out a collective sigh of relief, secretly glad that nobody got severely injured. 

Right before they were dismissed, Merlin rattled off another reminder.

“And don’t forget to link me the names of your trainees by tonight, please.”

  


*

  


Lancelot was rifling through the sheets of papers Galahad had prepared. Every detail about their two candidates was in those sheets: from where they came from, their academics, and performance in military school.

Both the candidates were in their third year, both excel tremendously in all the physical tests, despite being useless in everything else, namely the written tests; neither could even get passing marks.

Lancelot hummed thoughtfully as he skimmed through the papers, occasionally giving Galahad doubtful looks for his choice of pupils. 

“Are you sure these two are the best choice?”

Galahad looked like he expected that from the other and proceeded to justify his choices when he was interrupted by the insistent buzzing of his phone. It’s been buzzing since the meeting ended, half an hour ago. His brows twitched in annoyance and Lancelot seemed to key in on his mood, as he quickly said, “There’s Tanaka Ryuunosuke from fifth class, he seems like a better, more promising candidate,” his voice trailed off as he saw how Galahad was looking more and more annoyed with his phone, and squeaked out a, “No?”

Letting out a sigh, Galahad gave Lancelot an apologetic smile, before getting to the task at hand, which is convincing Lancelot that Kageyama Tobio and Hinata Shouyou are the best choice, instead of glaring at his still buzzing phone.

“Kageyama is the best at all the physical tests: he got the highest mark for all his endurance tests, he was the fastest at completing the mock heist, and his shooting aims are one of the best in his class. He might not be the brightest when it comes to on-paper intelligence, but other than that, he’s good, more than good.”

Lancelot nodded, but he waved the other set of papers, Hinata’s, and said, “But Hinata doesn’t seem really good, performance wise. Yukigaoka is not really known for producing very promising cadets, you know that right?” 

Glancing at the papers in Lancelot’s hand, Galahad was brought back to the day he went to Yukigaoka to scan for any possible candidates. It was lunch break and everyone except Hinata was eating and resting in the shades. Hinata was running laps when one of the cadets shot a rubber bullet at him and Galahad was 100% sure it would hit the boy but he dodged like it was nothing, not even faltering in his run, and yelled indignantly at the one who shot at him. Galahad was impressed, immensely.

“Hinata Shouyou might not be the smartest, but he has a good sense of his surrounding, extremely fast reflex, and he’s really in-tune with his body. Also, his endurance is really high.” 

Lancelot didn’t seem swayed as he read aloud Hinata Shouyou’s report. “Says here: he’s extremely clumsy. His aims are subpar; also, he was the last one to complete the mock heist, because, and I quote: _‘He broke down because he thought he killed a dear with the rubber bullet._ '”

Galahad laughed at the last part, he did the same when he read the full report. “We can train him, that’s the point, right. Why are you so worried?”

“Why aren’t _you_?” He countered, brow raised in disbelief.

Galahad sighed, “Look, maybe you should meet him. You’ll definitely see what I mean.” Lancelot looked like he was about to protest, but he cut him off with a, “Just trust me on this, will you?” that he knew would make the other concede.

And he did, with a resigned sigh before he gave Galahad a look that said he’s still not into this choice 100% and slipped out of his office.

Galahad packed everything up, ready to call it a day, when somebody entered his room without a knock. A long lecture about what is considered a common sense, especially among them, who called themselves gentlemen, was hanging off the tip of his tongue, but the words died in his throat as he saw who it was and he opted for a glare instead.

“Don’t you know how to knock?” he said irritably, trying to pack as quickly as possible, not wanting to be in the same room with the one person he wanted to see the least. “What do you want?”

Bedivere shrugged. “You ignored my calls. I must’ve called you like, a thousand times.”

Galahad sighed, “It means I don’t wanna talk. Take a hint.” 

Bedivere pouted. “And here I thought you cared about me.”

Galahad’s lips were pulled in a frown and he turned his back against the other, trying to smother the dread that choked him earlier that day when Bedivere and Kay were stupidly putting their lives on danger. He tried not to let his voice waver, but he failed when he choked out a quiet, “You know I do.” 

It was quiet. 

Bedivere’s thoughts were pretty loud in the otherwise quiet room, trying to assess what’s allowed at this point, and what’s not. He took a careful step towards Galahad, who was now trembling, his hands curled in fists; he brushed his fingers lightly at the other’s white-knuckled fists, and smiled when the tight fists loosened.

“Why do you have to be so stupid, Kuroo.” Galahad sighed tiredly, giving him an exasperated look.

Bedivere tried not to let his surprise show at the mention of his name, instead, he bumped his shoulder playfully against the other’s. “Hey, somebody’s gotta lighten up this place.”

It’s true. Everyone’s been on edge since Lionel died; even Gareth was being unusually quiet, it was suffocating.

“By throwing away your lives?” Galahad looked unimpressed.

He grinned, “Well, Kay was getting antsy at the very serious atmosphere, and you know how he is when that happens.”

Still with the same unimpressed expression, Galahad just looked at him.

Bedivere’s grin grew. He stretched his arms in a cat-like manner, purposely letting his knuckles brush against Galahad’s, and something flickered in the other’s eyes at the contact that made him feel like he could get away with anything.

“Well, you don’t have to worry anymore; Arthur said I shouldn't partner up with Kay anymore, for the time being.” He said, waiting for the other’s reaction as the news sunk in.

Galahad frowned. “You don’t seem too upset –” 

Bedivere could practically see the moment the gears in Galahad’s head clicked before he groaned, “Oh, shit.” 

His cheeks hurt from grinning so much. “Well, I look forward to working with you, partner.” He pat Galahad’s shoulder before slinking away, avoiding the hit to the back of the head that was sure to come if he’d waited any longer. Galahad was cursing all the while. 

  


*

  


Kay slumped into the armchair and let out a particularly pathetic whimper. Cador raised an eyebrow from where he was sitting at his desk.

“You reap what you sow,” he said. He might actually enjoy seeing Kay acting like a kicked puppy, at least he’d be quiet, but the heavenly silence won’t even last more than five minutes before he starts ranting, and really, on second thought, Cador took back what he said about enjoying this.

“…and everyone’s just so serious all the time. I know we haven’t lost a member since like ten years cos we’re all very awesome but come on, isn’t that what being a Kingsman mean? To go into every mission with the thought that it’s our last? I mean, no offence to Lionel, but I wasn’t really that close with him…”

It went on and on, Cador took to muting out Kay’s rants in favour of finding out ways to put a leash on the other’s bouts of random excitements, it’d be a problem if that happens in the middle of a mission; he didn’t think he’d be able to handle it as well as Bedivere.

Which got him into thinking why Arthur assigned him with Kay, the other’s words ringing in his head, _“He listens to you.”_

He snorted. Well, sure, they’ve been friends since high school, and he was the only one who could handle Kay when he’s sulking, and was glad that Bedivere was there to help with Kay’s mood swings, but he’s never had to deal with the other in a life and death situation. That did have him a bit worried.

“– and you nag too much Akaashi, you’re not my mum okay, jeez – ”

Cador glared at Kay, who immediately stopped ranting when he realised what he said, and grinned sheepishly. “Like it or not, Bokuto-san, we’re partners now.”

Kay exclaimed an, “I like it! So please don’t be angry with me. Please please please –”

Sighing, Cador told him to shut up already, and stop looking like you’re gonna cry, I’m not mad. This is his life now, Cador thought, having to babysit his friend both at work and at home. He made a mental note to ask for a much deserved raise from Arthur, or at least a free meal from Bedivere for subjecting him to this in the first place, as he tuned out Kay’s incessant begging.

  


*

  


*

  


Entering Kitaiichi was giving Galahad unpleasant déjà vu about his days in military school, where the extremely good students flock together while the average ones try not to stand out too much so as to not displease the elites and end up being the punching bags; it’s disgusting.

He scanned the area for any resemblance of a tall boy with dark hair and dark features; he had done some more research on the boy and he can confidently conclude that Kageyama Tobio’s default expression seems to be angry and miserable.

There was a group of cadets huddled together in a circle, and when he peered closer, Galahad could see one of them was straddling another boy and beating him to a pulp. He was about to ignore it because it really was none of his business, but something about the boy being beaten up made him falter. The boy wasn’t even putting up a fight, brows furrowed and his bruised face contorted in pain, and Galahad knew that face, the whole point of coming here was to look for that boy. Before he knew it, he was approaching the group.

“Hey, that’s enough.”

Everything ceased in mid-motion: the boys stopped laughing, their mouths hanging open in the midst of cackling their heads off, and the one punching Kageyama froze, his hand poised for another hard punch. Kageyama, though, looked like he’d wished Galahad hadn’t interfered.

He tried again.

“That’s enough now, you can let him go.”

One of them, the one who was still hovering over Kageyama, stood up and glared at him. “Who’re you, old man?”

The others snickered. Galahad fought the urge to roll his eyes because, really, this is such a clichéd scene that he’s sick of and distraught that he has to even be involved in it. However much he’d like to sass out the kid, he reminded himself that he was an adult, a very refined one at that, and opted a kind, “I’m here to see Kageyama, actually.”

All heads turned to Kageyama, who was struggling to sit up. Galahad did a quick scan over the group of boys: thirteen boys and judging by how some of them had red-bruised fists, it’s safe to say that they took turns beating Kageyama up. He felt his own hands ball into fists.

“Well, mister, I’m not done with him yet so you can fuck right off, yeah.” The boy stepped over in front of him and crossed his arms over his chest, in a universal gesture of intimidation. 

Galahad said, patiently. “I think you _are_ done with him, young man.” Ignoring the glaring and the growls from the others, he went straight to Kageyama and gently helped him up, supporting the boy’s weight with his. “Now, if you’ll excuse us.”

He predicted the oncoming punch, naturally, so he dodged it easily, mindful not to jostle Kageyama too much. He raised an unimpressed brow.

“Did they not teach you that back attacks are unmannerly?” 

The boys looked even more annoyed; they looked like they could do with a fight. “You really need to shut the fuck up, old man. And mind your own goddamn business.”

The second punch came in from somewhere to his right and he caught the flying fist with his hand, startling the others. Galahad sighed. “There’s really no need for violence here, boys. We can settle this the mature way.”

He gave a gentle smile as he put enough pressure against the boy’s fist, cracking a knuckle, and stared right into his eyes as he cracked another; he knew the boy knew that if enough pressure was applied, he’d come out of this sticky mess with a broken fist, and the boy immediately wrenched his fist away.

“Let’s go,” was all he said, before scurrying away, the others trailing after him, sending death glares over at Kageyama, who was fidgeting uncomfortably against him.

For the first time since he stepped in, Kageyama mumbled a quiet, “Thank you, but you shouldn’t have interfered.”

Galahad knew he should’ve ignored the entire thing too, knew full well that him interfering was going to cause a lot more trouble for Kageyama, but he couldn’t bring himself to. He righted Kageyama against his side. “We should clean up your wounds first.”

As they hobbled to his car, Kageyama didn’t say anything else except for the occasional pained grunts and curses. He settled Kageyama down into the passenger seat carefully and went to take out alcohol swabs and iodine from his dashboard.

“Why didn’t you fight back?” he asked, as he swiped the cuts on Kageyama’s face with iodine. Kageyama averted his eyes, avoiding eye contact and refusing to give an answer. 

Galahad thought he really wasn’t going to answer when he muttered under his breath, “What’s the point.” At his raised brow, Kageyama looked defiantly at him. “First time I did, they came back with four people, and then the next, six. When the next time they came with ten, I gave up fighting back. It’s pointless.”

He was working on patching up Kageyama’s face with band aids, when he asked gently, “Haven’t you considered reporting this to the instructors?”

Kageyama snorted at the preposterous idea. “They’ll kill me if I do.”

Galahad hummed. “I guess your endurance really _is_ high.”

Kageyama stared at him, at a loss for words, not really sure how this man knew anything about him, he didn’t even know how he knew his _name_. “Who are you, anyway?”

Galahad smiled at him, “Sawamura Daichi. I’m here because of your amazing potential.”

Kageyama just gave him a confused look.

Satisfied with patching up the wounded boy, Galahad stood up and went over to the driver’s seat and throttled the ignition. Motioning for the stunned boy to close the door, he asked, absently, “How do you feel about working for a secret service?”

Closing the door, Kageyama said slowly, processing the words as he said them aloud, “As in, a spy…?”

Putting his car into gear, Galahad drove past Kitaiichi’s front gate, and chuckled softly. “Yeah, you could say that.”

Only when Galahad had eased into the highway did Kageyama finally realised that he was basically being abducted by a complete stranger who was talking about crazy stuff like recruiting him to be a spy, which does not exist except for in the movies, mind you (he might have said that last bit aloud, because Galahad looked at him funny). Still internally panicking over the prospect of being kidnapped by a mad man, Kageyama asked cautiously, “Where are you taking me?”

Galahad replied with a simple, “To Kingsman, of course.”

Of course. Like that should make any sense at all to Kageyama. 

Kageyama slid down the chair slightly, might as well get comfortable while he still can, just in case this man _was_ mad and this was his last chance to have the luxury of sitting in a plush leather seat. He sighed and closed his eyes; his mind going numb as he registered the soft humming of the air conditioning and the drone of the engine, before everything went completely quiet and he fell into a deep slumber.

  


*

  


At first, Lancelot thought that finding Hinata Shouyou wouldn’t be that hard because of the nature of his hair colour; bright and orange, practically imploring people to pay attention to it, but soon, he found out that Hinata’s hair wasn’t the only thing that shone as bright as the sun. 

He found Hinata in the middle of talking animatedly with a petite girl, his face alight with a grin that stretched from ear to ear, hands gesticulating around to emphasise events in his story-telling; the boy was a ball of energy. A smile crept onto Lancelot’s face, his chest felt warm just by looking at the other, who was now laughing loudly at something the girl said.

Lancelot approached the duo, ignoring the looks he was getting from everyone within the vicinity. He could tell that Hinata was about to launch into another fascinating story, but he stopped in favour of staring at Lancelot; mouth agape at the aborted task.

“Uhm, can I help you?” he asked warily. 

The girl Hinata was talking to yelped in fear and quickly excused herself, scurrying away like a scared kitten.

Lancelot smiled. “I’m Sugawara Koushi. I’m a graduate from Karasuno.”

At the mention of Karasuno, Hinata’s eyes went wide and he gasped; just like how Lancelot had expected. “That’s _so cool!_ ” Hinata exclaimed, looking at Lancelot in a new manner. Suspicion begone, replaced instead with awe and a bit of envy. 

Lancelot had read on Hinata’s profile a bit more and found out that the boy had been moving out of different schools during his high school years. He wasn’t really sure why, but he did remember how Hinata had listed Karasuno as his number one choice for military school, but he didn’t get in because he failed the entrance exam.

“I’ve always wanted to be in Karasuno, you know. My dad used to go there, and General Ukai is there and I heard he’s one of the best instructors. I heard he led the rescue mission when we were under crisis. I was still in junior high at that time. Karasuno is a bit far from my house, like, really far; I have to bike for over 45 minutes to get there from my house, I know, ‘cos I tried biking there once, but anyway. I really, really wanted to go there but I couldn’t because of that stupid entrance exam. Why does that exist anyway? I didn’t know you need to be good at maths to get into military. I suck at maths –” he cut himself off with a surprised, “Oh!” before introducing himself, grinning sheepishly. “My name’s Hinata Shouyou.”

Frankly, Lancelot was a bit stunned by the pace at which Hinata could speak and the amount of things he could talk about within one breath. This was probably even worse than Kay, he thought. 

Hinata’s eyes sparkled when he asked, “How was General Ukai like in person?”

Lancelot chuckled, remembering his days in Karasuno, under Old Ukai’s commandment, grateful for the man’s rigorous ways but also glad that he didn’t have to go back there ever again. “It was pure torture, actually.”

Hinata ooh-ed at that and started fidgeting with nervous energy, he wanted to ask a lot more, Lancelot could tell, about Karasuno and General Ukai. Just like earlier, Hinata, who seemed to be easily distracted exclaimed another sudden, “Oh!” and peered at Lancelot curiously.

“What are you doing here, Sugawara-san?”

Before Lancelot could even explain, the other gasped excitedly as he started rocking back and forth on the heels of his feet, “Oh, Oh! Are you here to recruit me into Karasuno? Is that possible? I mean, sure, I failed that exam spectacularly, but if you looked past that, I’m actually really good at everything else! Colonel Takeda said so. Also! I can jump like, really, really high. You wanna see?” He seemed to actually look like he was about to launch himself into a leap, but Lancelot put a hand on his shoulders to stop him.

“I’m here to recruit you, yes, but not into Karasuno.”

Hinata visibly deflated and disappointment filled his features, from the way his spiky hair drooped with his shoulders, like a wilted flower, to the way his eyes flashed with utter gloom and despair. 

“If not Karasuno, then where?”

Lancelot smiled brightly at Hinata, the other perking up just a bit at that, giving him a confused look. 

“Somewhere much, much better.”

Well, that actually depends on perspective. But Lancelot was pretty confident that Hinata would feel the same. “I’ll show you, it’s back in Miyagi.”

Hinata hesitated for a bit, looking behind his shoulder to the training ground and back at Lancelot, turning his options around in his head. If this was a massive opportunity to make his life better, he’d be an idiot to refuse. If he stayed here, he’d still be the bumbling idiot nobody ever takes seriously. He thought of home: his mum and his little sister, and felt a longing ache in his chest.

Heaving out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding, Hinata said quietly, “I want to be better,” and looked at Lancelot square in the eyes, amber eyes burning with a fire Lancelot hadn’t seen before in the span of twenty minutes with the boy, “I want to be someone.”

At that moment, Lancelot finally got what Galahad saw in the boy; he was right, there was more to Hinata Shouyou than what he appeared to be. Lancelot gave the boy a kind smile, “You will be, we’ll make sure of that.”

Just like that, the fire was gone in his eyes, replaced by confusion as Hinata tilted his head. “…we?” 

Lancelot grinned brightly at the other, “Kingsman, of course.”

Hinata looked even more confused than before. “…of course.”

Nodding, Lancelot gestured for Hinata to follow him, the latter was still reeling with confusion but he tagged along nonetheless. Hinata walked with a slight skip to his steps next to Lancelot, swinging his arms back and forth, and humming a random tune softly. When Lancelot peered at him, he realised that Hinata was actually trying to fill the silence between them, and he couldn’t help but chuckle at that.

“You really can’t do with some peace and quiet, can you?” He teased.

Hinata caught himself and grinned sheepishly, before shrugging and singing some made-up song, occasionally sparing Lancelot a cheeky smile, just to see if the other would stop him again and make another comment.

“So, Sugawara-san, this Kingsman thing, what’s it about?”

Lancelot hummed, trying to piece his words carefully without sounding completely insane, “It’s a secret service, where you sort of have to do stuff like saving the world. But secretly.”

He glanced at Hinata worriedly, that had sounded exactly like he was trying to play a prank and tricking the boy into some illegal business, like selling drugs or something. Hinata did actually look a bit stunned before he let out a gasp, stars filling his wide eyes. He let out a reverent _“saving the world,”_ that Lancelot started to wonder if the boy really is 21, because he had reacted exactly like how a five year old would when told Santa Claus is real.

Before Hinata could start babbling about how much he’s dreamt of being a hero, Lancelot added quickly, his tone urgent, “But it’s a secret, Hinata, so you can’t tell anyone about this. Okay? ”

Hinata clamped his mouth shut and nodded, face serious.

Lancelot let out an inaudible sigh of relief, his job of convincing Hinata to join them was made easy; the boy is easily impressed and would take anything he said at face value (though that might actually pose a problem to them in the future). He’d have to make sure to notify Merlin about this.

It was a 40-minute drive to Miyagi from Yukigaoka, but once they were there, Hinata was taking in everything he saw; he hasn’t really been at this part of Japan, and that was saying something because Hinata’s family hadn’t really been staying at one place since his junior high years. He wished he’d attended high school here, looking longingly at the mountainous road behind him through the rear view mirror.

When Lancelot pulled the hand brake in front of Kingsman, he’d expected Hinata to gush out on how fancy the place looked, instead, the latter looked visibly anxious.

Hinata fiddled with his fingers, feeling that familiar painful twist in his lower abdomen; cold dread washed over him, he was sure his face was white as a sheet.

Lancelot pushed the glass doors open, looking worriedly at Hinata as the boy squeaked and staggered through the doors.

Once inside, Hinata gulped loudly and took in the luxurious interior. Everything seemed to be gilded in gold, thanks to the expensive looking chandeliers hanging off the ceiling. He ran his hand over smooth wood panelling that serve as the store’s wall; it was nothing like the typical traditional store. The floors too was panelled with expensive looking wood, Hinata glanced self-consciously at his battered sneakers. 

Similar to the window display, there were mannequins fitted in expensive looking clothing lined up against one side of the wall. Hinata gingerly touched the lapel of a suit on one of the mannequins, they were so smooth he started sweating bullets and retracted his fingers as if he was burned, not wanting to ruin the material. He suspected that not even selling his organs could cover any damage done to the expensive cloth.

Just then, the doors separating the front shop to the back room swung open, revealing a massive guy with a goatee and his hair pulled back into a little bun; the waist coat he was wearing emphasised his ripped body and Hinata could see how big the guy’s biceps were. He yelped and hid behind Lancelot when the man looked at him. 

“Asahi, go back from where you came, you’re scaring him,” Lancelot chided the man with the goatee and bun for a hair. 

Asahi looked startled, and he frowned at Lancelot. “That’s mean, Suga,” he replied, but he exited the front shop into the back room nonetheless.

When Asahi was out of sight, Lancelot explained to Hinata that he works as Kingsman’s tailor. Hinata choked on his own spit, looking at Lancelot with disbelief. 

“He’s a tailor?!”

Lancelot chuckled. They get that a lot from their customers and clients. “He can’t handle blood and gore very well. Daichi loves to bully him because of that.”

Hinata nodded dumbly. He was about to ask who Daichi is, when the bell on the glass door tinkled, announcing a new customer. He turned around to see there were two newcomers; one was like that Asahi guy, big build with broad shoulders, clad in an expensive looking suit, jet black hair shone gold under the shop’s chandelier, and he wore a nerdy looking glasses, which actually made the look more clean and sharp.

The other was really tall and lanky; raven hair covering the frown he was sporting, but it did nothing to make him look more approachable as his mouth was also pulled into a mean scowl. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets. His face was littered with bruises and plasters, a new bruise was slowly forming under his left eye, and Hinata’s hand flew to his own, flinching at the pain the other must be feeling.

Lancelot greeted the man clad in suit with a friendly, “Galahad,” while this Galahad guy greeted him with a warm, “Lancelot.”

Hinata was a bit confused, so was the boy with the bruises because they were looking at the two men for explanation. 

Galahad chuckled. “Our nicknames, in Kingsman.” 

Hinata ooohh-ed in awe while the other guy just grunted in reply.

Galahad turned his attention to Hinata and smiled, “You must be Hinata Shouyou,” and Hinata stood at attention and saluted Galahad, and yelled out an embarrassing, “Sir, yes sir!” 

Hinata ignored the battered boy’s mocking snort when Galahad introduced himself as Sawamura Daichi.

“Just call me Daichi, Hinata, you’re not in military anymore.”

“Y-yes, Daichi-san.”

Hinata turned to the other boy, who had kept quiet during the entire exchange and held out his hand. “Hinata Shouyou.”

The boy stared at the outstretched hand, deliberating whether to reciprocate with his own introduction or not, when Galahad cleared his throat and gave him a meaningful look. He sighed, taking Hinata’s hand and shook it once before stuffing his hands back into his pocket. He mumbled a soft, “Kageyama Tobio.”

Galahad introduced Lancelot and Kageyama to each other. Hinata couldn’t help but notice how Kageyama was much more polite to Lancelot, and huffed in annoyance.

Galahad and Lancelot were whispering to each other, trying to discreetly steal glances over at Kageyama, who seemed to catch onto the fact that he was being talked about, as he fidgeted uncomfortably. No doubt Lancelot was asking about what happened to him.

Hinata was curious too. He wondered if Kageyama was a troublemaker, and he must have said that bit aloud because the other was glaring at him. 

Sensing onto Kageyama’s distress, Galahad clapped his hands to get the other two’s attention. Both Hinata and Kageyama stared at him expectantly.

“You’re going to be working as a unit, so it’d be best for you to get along.”

Both boys groaned.

Ignoring their protests, Galahad and Lancelot led them to one of the fitting rooms, noting in amusement how the boys looked scandalised at the thought of going in there together. 

They were pushing at each other, trying to get into the room before the other; the hand Hinata used to push at Kageyama’s shoulder slipped to his side during their tussle, and Kageyama doubled over, hissing in pain. 

Everyone froze, Hinata looked like he was about to burst into tears. Galahad rushed over to Kageyama and rubbed a hand gently down the other’s back, trying to comfort him. 

Kageyama accepted Galahad’s offer to act as his crutch, again, and avoided everyone’s concerned gaze, embarrassed. 

Lancelot took that as his cue to press his hand against the full length mirror. 

Nothing seemed to happen for a few seconds, and Hinata and Kageyama really thought they were being tricked into believing that this whole lark was real, when a beam of blue light appeared out of nowhere from behind the mirror, scanning the hand print. Before the boys could react, the ground rumbled softly, before descending slowly.

Hinata cried out, “OH MY GOD!” and clutched onto Lancelot.

Kageyama was too disoriented by the descending fitting room to even react.

  


*

  


*

  


Gareth stormed into his office, slamming his door shut, followed by an exasperated Gawain.

“I can’t fucking believe it. Can you believe this?!” 

He was pacing, running his hand through his hair, Gawain just watching quietly. 

“First that fucker Percival, now Tobio?!”

Gawain sighed, “Look, I get why you hate Percival, the guy’s an ass,” although most of the time he just acts on his own accord unapologetically, but that’s besides the point, “but Kageyama hasn’t really done anything to you.”

Gareth glared at Gawain, which was rare because usually it’s the other way round.

“Stop making sense, Iwa-chan,” he said petulantly.

Gawain rolled his eyes. “You’re just bitter because he broke all your record at Kitaiichi, grow up.”

At the insult, Gareth pouted, “Did you see that he’s almost the same height as me now? That brat.”

“Actually, I’m pretty sure he’s taller than you.”

Groaning, Gareth grabbed fistful of hair. “Ugh, if I knew Galahad was gonna take him, I wouldn’t have asked Kindaichi to join Kingsman.” 

Gawain flinched. Kindaichi went to the same academia with Kageyama, and he hated the boy. Things were going to get really messy. 

“Fuck.”

Gareth whimpered.

  


*

  


Leaving Kageyama and Hinata wasn’t really what Galahad wanted to do just yet, especially since he had only spent 40 minutes with them, explaining as much as he could without confusing the two too much (Lancelot bailed once they descended to the headquarters, saying he had stuff to do, Galahad doubts it), and _especially_ after Kageyama bumped into Gareth and Gawain, the latter was a lot calmer with his greetings.

It was a bit of a surprise at how Gareth had cursed loudly at Kageyama, and Kageyama ended up stuttering out a greeting. He had no idea how Kageyama knew Gareth and Gawain, but he’d make sure to find out later. He could’ve just asked the boy then, but Merlin paged him to the round table.

The helpless look on Kageyama’s face and the clueless one on Hinata’s were floating around in his head.

As if that wasn’t enough to keep his head pounding, Bedivere was already there, rifling through the papers and swiping over his tablet. Galahad was about to ask him what the hell does he think he’s doing there, before he remembered that they were partners now. The pounding in his head got even worse.

Bedivere looked up as the door clicked shut to see Galahad looking like he’s gotten himself six feet deep in dog shit. “You look like shit.”

Galahad grunted in reply and slinked into a chair. Tufts of hair sprouted from his usually kept hair, a tell-tale sign that he’d been running his hand through it multiple times. 

“Does this have to do with the boys you brought in today?”

He cringed. That sounded too much like he was asking his husband how their sons were doing in school; judging by the way Galahad was looking at him told him the feeling was mutual.

“Apparently one of them knows Gareth and Gawain.”

Bedivere hummed, leaning back against his chair as he regarded that information in interest. “And what’s wrong with that?”

Galahad let out a long sigh, propping his elbows against the table and rubbing his temple, as he is wont to do whenever he’s stressed over something, which is all the time. Bedivere kept that opinion to himself of course, lest he wants to get smacked over the head.

“Because Gareth didn’t seem particularly pleased with Kageyama.” Another long suffering sigh, this time followed with a groan. “He even called Kageyama names, Kuroo. What am I gonna do?”

Although he’s not ashamed to admit that his heart sings hymns every time the other calls him by his name, and that he enjoys riling Galahad in every opportunity that presents itself, Bedivere refrained from pointing it out to Galahad. He seemed quite distraught.

“Well,” he said, a bit awkwardly, before clearing his throat. “I mean, you picked this Kageyama kid for a reason, right?” Galahad only grunted, so Bedivere continued, rather pathetically, “So, you know, I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

Galahad let out a delirious laugh and Bedivere thought he might have gone a bit mad, but then he smiled. “You suck at cheering people up.”

Bedivere gasped. “I’m fucking fantastic at cheering people up.”

He couldn’t help but grin when Galahad laughed exasperatedly at him, at least he made the other laugh.

Right then, Merlin entered the room with a very serious face, and both Bedivere and Galahad sat up a bit straighter. Galahad cleared his throat as he glanced through the particulars in his tab, and Merlin gave them a knowing look.

“Excuse me for interrupting, but you can continue flirting later.” Galahad made a protesting sound that was caught between an embarrassed whimper and an indignant squawk; Merlin tapped at his tab. “Right now, we need to find out why this Shinkai Wataru guy is calling in favours from the country’s top engineers and biologist for the past six months.”

Donning the glasses, Merlin put up all the particulars regarding Shinkai Wataru: a seemingly normal businessman with several stake holds on small businesses. However, for the past year, he’s been caught by their informants dealing with suppliers of weaponries and chemicals. And now he’s been seen talking to important people at functions and galas.

Merlin then put up the profiles of important figures of the country, ones who have been reportedly missing for the past two months, and Bedivere’s eyes bulged. 

He let out a soft, “Fuck,” when the picture of Japan’s prime minister’s secretary, who was being huddled into a private jet, popped up. The date at the bottom corner showed this to be very recent, two days ago. 

Merlin gave a confirmative sigh.

“As you can see, this is really serious. I don’t know what he’s planning on but I’m pretty sure his next target will be the Prime Minister himself.” 

The room went quiet as both Bedivere and Galahad tried to digest everything. The significance of this mission sunk in, and they both looked at each other. If they fail, they’d both die, although that wasn’t really what bothered them most; if they fail, the country is, for lack of a better word, doomed.

Merlin regarded the two, not really sure what to say to put them at ease, and settled with; “Arthur trusts the two of you to make it alive, you guys _are_ our best.”

They gave a curt nod, already mentally preparing themselves for the job.

  


*

  


*

  


_“Don’t worry too much about Kageyama and Hinata.”_

Galahad was striding along the hallway with quick steps, visibly seething.

_“I’m sure they’ll be fine.”_

He slammed open the door to see both of them sitting opposite from each other, Kageyama sporting a split lip and Hinata an ugly red bruise under his eye. The both of them stood up immediately at his entrance, looking ashamed and sorry. They should be, Galahad thought, vehemently.

“I expected better from you,” he said to the room, putting as much venom as he could in his words.

Merlin had come to him with an annoyed face, telling him that Hinata and Kageyama were involved in a tussle in the dorms where all the other trainees stayed. Galahad caught some bits of what Merlin said in his anger and haste to get to them as fast as his feet could possibly take him. Somebody said something about Kageyama’s reputation in Kitaiichi, Hinata tried to defend Kageyama but the boy took offense in that and started hurling mean words at Hinata and Hinata retorted with his own insults. And then they ended up in a punching match. That was the gist of it, at least.

“I am preparing for a really important job. I don’t have time to play daddy.”

Kageyama flinched at that – Galahad would have taken back his words but he didn’t because he was pissed and the boys were asking for it – before mumbling a soft, “I’m sorry.”

Galahad crossed his arms over his chest. “What was that? I can’t hear you.”

Kageyama stared right into his eyes, looking slightly annoyed, but knowing that he was on the wrong. “I said I’m sorry.” Galahad raised a brow, urging him to continue, and Kageyama did, begrudgingly. “I let myself get riled up over a stupid comment and lashed out on Hinata,” he turned to Hinata, his face contorting into an ugly scowl as he spat out an unpleasant, “Sorry.”

Hinata looked completely surprised at the apology, and he probably wanted to say something, something stupid, no doubt, but Galahad didn’t have time for that.

“Good, I’m glad you know your own mistakes.”

He turned to Hinata, the other jumping at the attention and looking confused at his expectant look. Galahad sighed tiredly, “Don’t you have anything to say to Kageyama?”

Hinata was quiet for a bit, thinking things through before clenching his fists and yelling, “I’M SORRY FOR DEFENDING YOUR HONOUR!”

Kageyama looked about to explode with anger and Galahad felt his chest tremble with his own brand of what-the-fuckery, but then Hinata bowed 90 degrees at the other. “I shouldn’t have said what I said and I’m sorry for punching you!”

Not used to Hinata’s blunt honesty, Kageyama seemed to stumble with his reply, stuttering a, “I… you –” before clearing his throat and settled with a, “It’s fine. I’m sorry for punching you too,” not looking at the boy while he said so.

Galahad sighed, relieved. “You really need to get along with each other. I swore to Merlin that you guys are the best bet. So please, don’t disappoint me.”

Those words worked like magic, Galahad noted, pleased at the way Kageyama stood straight, lips trembling with something akin to an excited smile, his eyes burning with determination, as he yelled, “Y-YES!”

Hinata, on the other hand, went for a more childish approach, yelling ‘UOOOOOHHHHH!!!!’ before wailing, “DAICHI-SAAAAANN.”

Galahad chuckled, about to tell the still wailing Hinata to calm down, when Kageyama roared irritably, “Shut up, dumbass, you’re being too loud!” and all hell went loose again. Not even five minutes of peace.

This was going to take a lot of time and patience, Galahad thought, rubbing his temples.

  


*

  


*

  


Copy the files from Shinkai Wataru’s personal computer and get the hell out of there, was what Merlin said. Easier said than done, of course. The guy’s house was wired with top-notch security; guards littering the perimeter and from where he was hiding, Galahad could see security cameras everywhere.

“Damn, CCTVs are a pain in the ass,” came a voice from his earpiece. Galahad turned to Bedivere who was right beside him and glared at him. “Can you please not use the earpiece when we’re right next to each other?”

Bedivere grinned, his voice crackled through the earpiece again, “But I feel closer to you through this godsend contraption.”

Galahad rolled his eyes, ignoring him and turned his attention back to the massive house in front of them instead. 

“We should go in there now. Have you picked your cover yet?”

Bedivere hummed, tapping his chin as his eyes scan the many guards there. “The tall guy at the back.”

Galahad nodded. His glasses zeroed in on the tall guy, popping up information from back when he was in elementary. Galahad read out the necessary information to Bedivere. “Watanabe, 35.”

Bedivere nodded an affirmative. “Well, I’m off then.” 

Galahad whispered a rushed ‘Good luck,’ and watched as the other slunk off into the premise of the house. It was quiet for a few minutes before he heard the familiar crackle from his earpiece, “I’m in.”

He glanced at his wrist watch. “Good, you have about 20 minutes before Shinkai comes back from his conference.”

Bedivere just hummed in reply before the line went quiet, interrupted only by the sounds of his footsteps and soft breathing. Galahad accessed the CCTVs to check for incoming guards or personnel, guiding the other through the many hallways in the house until he got to their target.

“It’s locked,” Bedivere said, matter-of-factly.

Punching in a few keys, Galahad disabled the alarm and the lock. Bedivere whistled, pleased, as the door clicked open. Get the files, get out, and then figure out what this guy wants from all those people he’s been holding conferences with.

Galahad heard the tapping of a keyboard and Bedivere singing “Found it~” 

He glanced at his watch again. “Hurry up, you’ve got less than 10 minutes.”

It would’ve gone pretty smoothly. In fact, everything _was_ going pretty smoothly, but somehow Shinkai was already making his way to the room Bedivere was in, three minutes earlier than he was supposed to.

“Fuck, Bedivere, get the hell out of there, he’s coming.”

He heard the other cursing under his breath. “Just a bit more,” he muttered. Shinkai was approaching, fast. Galahad hissed, “Get out of there, you idiot!”

Bedivere gave a triumphant cry but before he could even make his escape, the door clicked open. Galahad felt dread wash over him as he saw Bedivere’s view from his glasses, who was now face to face with _the_ Shinkai Wataru, who was looking equally shocked and furious at the intruder.

Before Galahad could warn Bedivere not to jump out of the window, the other was already doing exactly that. The sound of glass crashing, alarms going off, hurried footsteps of the guards, gunshots and Shinkai shouting indignantly blasted through his earpiece.

“Shit. You’re on the third floor!”

No reply came and Galahad was already frantically scanning the house for any signs of the other, when he heard panting from behind him. He whipped his head around, his hand already reaching for his gun when he realised it was Bedivere, doubled over, unharmed. 

He sighed in relief.

Bedivere grinned, still panting; thumb drive dangling from his finger. “Admit it, you were totally worried.”

Annoyed, Galahad glared at him. “Really now, that’s what you’re going with?”

Still grinning, Bedivere shrugged. 

He let out another sigh. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Yes sir,” Bedivere said.

Galahad tried not to get too annoyed by that. Only because Bedivere managed to get what they came here for, which means they are a step closer to stopping Shinkai Wataru’s plans. That’s what he kept telling himself the entire ride back, stealing glances at the passenger seat just to make sure the other really was fine.

  


*

  


*

  


Galahad sighed. Recounting what happened in the past few days in his head, he sighed again as he dragged his feet. 

He was back at his place at last, after two days of staying back trying to read every single file in the thumb drive with Bedivere. There were thousands of them; some were even coded. He was sure he had gone half blind from those hours of staring into the screen.

He rubbed his face tiredly, loosening his tie and threw himself onto the sofa. The cushion hissed at the sudden weight. 

What they finally managed to piece together from all those sleepless hours was nothing short of cruel. It was months’ worth of meticulous planning to put the country under another crisis; a slow death for the people of Japan, and the day of execution was in two days.

A big grand ball, with all the important names of Japan attending. In Futaba, within a few kilometres’ reach to Japan’s nuclear power plant. 

A metaphorical big black cloud was hovering over his head as he thought of the countless things that could go wrong. It wasn’t helping that his thoughts had turned to his two trainees.

_Sorry Daichi, but they’re out._

He groaned, swung his feet off the couch and went straight to his study. Tracking down the two idiots wasn’t really a task, but it was a bit of a surprise when he saw they were together at Yukigaoka. 

Frowning, Galahad tapped into one of the security cameras on the campus ground. 

Through the blurry static of the CCTV, Galahad could see the both of them being cornered by two other boys. Kageyama had his hands in his pockets, half shielding Hinata; Hinata was talking to the boys. He couldn’t hear what was going on, but Kageyama looked royally pissed and Hinata looked like he was trying to salvage the situation.

One of them came up and jabbed a finger into Kageyama’s shoulder, taunting him.

What happened next was truly beyond Galahad’s wildest imagination. 

Hinata had grabbed onto the boy’s finger, and even through the shitty quality camera Galahad could see his face screaming bloody murder; he said something that made the two boys skittering off and he could see Kageyama’s shoulders slumping.

Galahad pulled out his phone and typed out a message to Kageyama and Hinata:

_Come and see me now._

  


45 minutes later found the three of them in his study. Judging by the stance the boys had opted, he knew they knew why they were here.

Galahad crossed his arms. “Explain.”

Neither said anything. He had expected Hinata to spout out apologies and beg for forgiveness, but the boy only stood there, head hung low. 

Kageyama was the first to speak. His voice was firm, no trace of regret as he looked Galahad straight in the eyes.

“I couldn’t do it.”

He took a step towards the boy and gave him a cold, hard stare. 

“You disobeyed your orders because _you couldn’t do it_.”

He glanced over at Hinata, his head still hung low, before turning his attention back to the taller boy. “Your entire life ahead of you, thrown away because you couldn’t follow a simple order.”

At this Kageyama’s eyes flared with anger as he bellowed. 

“How is shooting a guy in the head a _simple order_?!”

Hinata visibly flinched at Kageyama’s tone but said nothing. 

“Whatever the situation is, Kageyama, orders come first, emotions later,” Galahad replied, voice an octave higher.

Kageyama was trembling with righteous anger. “That’s fucked. You’re fucked.”

Sighing, Galahad slumped onto his desk. He regarded the two boys in front of him. One disobeyed an order in favour of keeping his friend alive; the other selflessly quit because he felt responsible.

“It was a blank,” he said. Kageyama and Hinata snapped their heads up so fast; Galahad thought they might have given themselves whiplash. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “You were given blanks to shoot each other because when the situation calls for it, you’re supposed to forsake your partner and put your mission as the utmost priority.” 

Merlin’s words rang in his head, about how these two have bonded over the course of two months. A few months ago, they could barely stand each other and now they’re taking a fall _for_ each other. 

For the first time during the entire exchange, Hinata finally spoke up. 

“Daichi-san, I… understand why you’re disappointed, but that’s something I can’t accept.” Hinata took a deep breath before continuing in a much firmer voice, looking at him defiantly. “Which is why I quit. I can’t stand up for something I don’t believe in.” He added a quiet, “Sorry.”

Galahad was quiet, trying to work out what to say. He rounded the desk and opened up one particular file that had chills running down his spine when Bedivere managed to decode it, turning the screen to Kageyama and Hinata.

He waited as they both squinted to read the screen. When he saw the look of utter surprise in their faces, he spoke up. 

“That’s happening in two days unless I stop him.” 

Seeing as the two were still stunned, Galahad continued. “I have to go in there, blend in, while Bedi– ” he cut himself off, remembering that the two weren’t really proficient at code names yet, “Kuroo diffuses every single one of these things,” he said, pointing to the screen.

Hinata stared at him, wide-eyed. “With just the two of you? That’s suicide.”

Galahad could have told him about the curse of quantity, of how Kingsman works, but he’s pretty sure Merlin has covered that already. 

“My point is, when things don’t go as planned,” he said instead, “Kuroo has to make sure, first and foremost, to take the Prime Minister to safety.” He repeated what Merlin had said to him and Bedivere earlier that day, “If that happens, I’m on my own.”

He looked at them straight in the eyes. “Either I make sure every one of Shinkai Wataru’s men and the man himself are dead, or I get killed.”

Their gulp was audible in the dead silence. 

Galahad sighed, running a hand through his hair. “It wasn’t an easy decision,” he said, “it never is, but one of the things you have to learn is priority.”

“Sawamura-san,” Kageyama began. But he was at a loss for words, so he ended up staring at him with a pleading look.

The frustration was evident, Galahad noted, by the way they were both biting their lip, hands clenched in fists, and their body trembling. 

It was unfair, of course. He knew that, but he’d stopped feeling like it a long time ago; had started to learn to accept things, their job, for what it is. He needed Kageyama and Hinata to understand that.

Clearing his throat, Galahad laid his hand on their shoulder. “Come on.”

He led them out of the study. “I’ll deal with the two of you after this,” he said, “so take care of yourselves.”

“Daichi-san,” Hinata spoke up. “Take care.”

They were both suspiciously teary eyed, which took Galahad by surprise. 

He tried for nonchalance, but he was pretty sure he failed miserably when he croaked a pathetic, “Yeah.”

  


*

  


*

  


Bedivere stole another surreptitious glance at Galahad, who was sitting across him. It was the day before D-day and they were waiting for Merlin. It’s only been five minutes since the other had walked in, but Bedivere swore he could hear the woodworms crawling in the round table, even though he’s pretty sure there’s none of those to begin with.

He tapped his finger lightly over the wooden surface, trying to drown out the unbearable silence with something before he starts getting mad himself. He stopped immediately when Galahad sighed loudly.

He cleared his throat. “So I heard your boys got kicked out.” 

Not the brightest thing to start a conversation with but he guessed that’s what had gotten Galahad all quiet and brooding, other than the mission at hand of course. And well, because he had zero self-preservation.

“You can’t really blame them, can you?” He said when Galahad didn’t seem like he’d be saying anything for the next five years, if he had his way. Galahad gave him a confused look and he shrugged, fiddling with his wrist watch as he recounted back his own trainee days. “I mean, Yaku wouldn’t talk to me for weeks.”

Bedivere knew from the faraway look on Galahad’s face that he was reminiscing the day _he_ pulled the trigger on Lancelot.

“Makes you wonder what the hell we were thinking back then,” he said. Those two weeks of disappointed looks and terse conversation was the hardest weeks of his life.

He went to grovel at Yaku’s feet two weeks later, of course, because he couldn’t stand the silence and the guilt. Yaku forgave him, saying he understood why he did it; he was just waiting for an apology, was all. _Besides, we both got in didn’t we?_ He’d said, with a big grin on his face before puffing out his chest and thumping it with his fist. _From now on, call me Elyan._

Galahad sighed, defeated.

Before Bedivere could rattle off another reassurance, Merlin came in with the blueprint of Shinkai’s villa in Futaba rolled up under his arm. When he rolled it open, there were five little Xs marking where each nuclear reactor was planted. 

Galahad would pose as one of the invited guests with a cover Merlin had already taken care of, while Bedivere would have to disable the mechanism of each reactor, so that even when Shinkai presses the button, nothing will happen. 

However, if Shinkai did end up pressing the button before Bedivere could even disable them, which was highly likely to happen, then he had exactly three minutes before the heating rod in the reactors overheats.

“Remember, three minutes,” Merlin repeated, “more than that, we’re completely fucked.”

Bedivere looked over the floor plan again, committing each Xs to memory (his glasses), and ran a hand through his messy hair. “Damn, why Futaba of all places.”

They all knew exactly why.

  


*

  


_I’ll have Elyan drop you off 2km out of Shinkai’s radar. From there it’s a 15-minute walk through the forest. Be careful of his men though, they might as well be on guard in there too._

Galahad fiddled with the straps of his pack, glancing at his watch every now and then. He looked over at his partner, who was chatting with Elyan about something, and wondered if he’d ever see them again after this. His thoughts wandered to Kageyama and Hinata

_Take care._

He swallowed the lump in his throat and took a deep breath. He held it in, listening to the steady thumps of his heart; one, two, three, before exhaling long and slow. 

“You worried?” Bedivere asked from where he was sitting.

Of course he’s worried, Galahad thought. “You’d be an idiot not to,” he said instead.

Shrugging, Bedivere tightened the straps of his own harness. 

“True.”

Elyan was quiet as he manned the private jet they were on, looking out for stray objects. But then his voice came through over the static of their earpiece, “Okay, you guys can go now.”

Galahad and Bedivere stared at each other, both trying to organize their thoughts into words before they plunge themselves to their death.

“Well” –Bedivere stood up, heaved a sigh and then grinned– “moment of truth.”

Elyan lowered the door, calling out a soft, “Good luck, guys.”

“See ya,” Bedivere replied before throwing himself out.

Galahad followed suit seconds later, feeling his body slice through air with the familiar velocity and the deafening noise of wind slapping against his face. 

When he landed, Bedivere was already discarding his parachute and suit, stuffing them back into his pack. Galahad could have done it himself, but Bedivere was already helping him with his, and he let him. 

Bedivere went about it quietly; unclasping the harness, pausing just for a fraction of a second before unzipping his latex suit and slipping it off his shoulders, his touches lingering. Galahad watched him silently; basking in the other’s rapt attention as he then fiddled with the helmet clasp.

Even when Bedivere had put everything back, he didn’t pull away; neither did Galahad. They stayed there toe to toe and just gazing at each other.

In normal circumstances, Bedivere would have made a lewd remark, but right now he was more than content just staring at Galahad. How long has it been, he wondered, since he’d been obsessed over the other. It didn’t take long for his infatuations to be requited, he mused, but they hadn’t really gone past anything; both not daring to step over that line and take things further.

It wasn’t as if they hadn’t gone through those moments of doubt where they wonder if they’d ever see each other again after every mission, but this was the first one they’d had together for years and it was just their luck that it was one of those live or die sort of job.

Bedivere would like to think that Galahad was entertaining the same thoughts in his own head, which is why he noticed how they were both leaning into each other at the same time. Those increments of gaps and the slow seconds that seem to last a lot longer than usual had him in a daze. 

Their lips met in a chaste kiss. It was more a whisper of touch rather than a press of lips, but it made their toes curl anyway. When they pulled away, Bedivere sighed, dropping his head onto Galahad’s shoulder. “This is so not fair,” he whined.

Galahad chuckled. He let his fingers tangle in the Bedivere’s hair, gently massaging his scalp. Dropping a quick kiss, he nudged the other with his nose. Bedivere made a confused puppy noise when he lifted his head to look at him, and Galahad felt his lips curve into a smile before he leaned in for another kiss. This time, it was longer, deeper. 

Galahad felt Bedivere curl an arm around him to pull him closer, his other hand cradling his head, tilting it into a better angle. He wasn’t really sure where his hands were, or where his other limbs were to be honest. All he knew and cared at that moment was the feel of Bedivere’s slightly chapped lips on his; the smell of coffee they had drank that morning, and the sour aftertaste of it on his tongue. It was just all so encompassing, and Galahad tried to remember all of it.

The way they were both breathing in each other’s air, both reluctant to part for longer than necessary to take a breather before leaning in into each other again; the almost obscene wet sounds from their mouths parting and meeting over and over again; the noises they were both making, one breathy, the other whiny; and the way they were both now touching each other in a way that can no longer be considered innocent.

The only thing that made them break apart was the sound of a disembodied voice interrupting them. It was Merlin.

“Guys,” he said. He sounded extremely uncomfortable. “I’m extremely sorry to interrupt, but you really have to get a move on.”

Bedivere was the first to pull away. He stared at Galahad, who was looking at him with hooded eyes, and ran a thumb over his bruised lip. He breathed out a shaky, “Okay,” before leaning down for one last quick kiss. “Let’s go.”

Galahad nodded. He felt his nails digging into the palms of his hands, trying to prevent them from pulling Bedivere back into him.

They crossed the woods in relative silence, both on high alert of Shinkai’s men while stealing glances over at each other every now and then.

Galahad felt like he was being doused by a bucket of ice cold water at the sight before him; there were guards everywhere, and he can see the guest trickling in with fancy cars. Since Bedivere was no doubt in Shinkai’s wanted list, Galahad was on his own in the villa. 

His job was to make sure Shinkai doesn’t even have a chance to touch the remote while Bedivere does his part. 

He kissed Bedivere square in the face, enjoying the look of surprise he received in turn, and said, “See ya,” repeating the other’s earlier sentiment towards Elyan.

Bedivere whispered, “Don’t die,” and Galahad wasn’t sure if he was joking, but he nodded anyway. “I’ll try,” he replied, before righting himself and marching confidently to the front gates.

“Sawamura Daichi,” he said to the guards who were eyeing him warily. He watched silently as they checked his name in their tab, giving them a curt nod when they let him in.

He scanned the area. “Merlin,” he murmurs, covering his mouth in a coughing motion, “I’m connecting you through.”

Seconds later, he heard Merlin’s voice, loud and clear, “I’m in.”

When Galahad spotted the Prime Minister talking to one of the ambassadors, he asked into his earpiece, “Did you see that?” and Merlin gave a confirmative grunt.

At least the Prime Minister is still fine, considering how he was having a jolly good time, laughing heartily at something the guest said.

When he saw his target, Shinkai, he straightened himself. “Bedivere,” he called, “you better be inside the villa already.”

He waited for a few seconds before the crackle came, Bedivere’s voice came through in a loud whisper, “I’m in.” 

Letting out a sigh, Galahad glanced over at where Shinkai Wataru was talking to one of the guests, a smile on his face while two bodyguards loomed over his back. “Right,” he said, more to himself, “let’s get this over with.”

  


*

  


Navigating through the villa was not an easy task, especially when the guards already knew how he looked like. There were guards everywhere; there were at least three of them at the five spots where the reactors were. 

Bedivere checked the position of each guard, breathed in, and sauntered right in front of them. The guards were bewildered, to say the least, hands already reaching for their guns, but Bedivere was quicker as he knocked them out. He patted the lapels of one of the unconscious guards and let out a soft ‘aha,’ when he found the keys to the doors leading to reactor number one.

Disabling the mechanism was a fairly simple task; he was used to sophisticated bombs and Shinkai’s mechanism was indeed a bit complicated but not an impossible task, he managed to do it in less than a minute.

“One down,” he reported. Merlin’s ‘Good job,’ rang through, followed by Galahad’s grunt.

 _Four more to go_ , he thought. Checking his watch, he calculated another twenty two minutes before Shinkai decided to flee and trigger the reactors.

At the thirteenth minute and the third reactor disabled, Galahad’s voice crackled through his earpiece, his voice tight as he said, “He’s taking the Prime Minister someplace else.”

“Follow them,” Merlin ordered.

Bedivere was done with the fourth reactor when Galahad recounted what was going on.

“He’s saying something to the Prime Minister,” a pause, and then, “I’m sending the images and recordings to you now, Merl –” before the line went dead.

Panic rose up his chest, choking him as Bedivere called out, “Galahad?” When no answer came, he called again, “Oi, are you there?”

He waited five seconds before he quickened his pace. Galahad was probably in trouble, he registered Merlin saying, his heart pounding as his eyes searched frantically for the door to the last reactor. 

Get this one done, and then he’ll go find out what the hell happened to Galahad.

The only problem was that Shinkai was there with the Prime Minister, who was being held down by two guards. He hastily hid behind a wall.

“You see, Mr Prime Minister,” Shinkai’s voice echoed through the hallway, “this is one of the reactors I’ve planted in this place.”

He heard a door being unlocked and an intake of a breath.

“With just a press of a button, it’s going to release radioactive substances,” Shinkai said, interrupted momentarily by the Prime Minister’s ‘You’re crazy!’ before he continued with so much glee in his voice it was sickening, “It’s not enough to kill everyone in Futaba, but enough to put the country into panic mode.”

Bedivere peeked from the wall, deliberating the next best move, when he realised that among them was an unconscious Galahad, lying down on the floor. 

“After I’m done with everyone here,” the creak of a door, “I’ll have my men blow up the tower plant. It’s going be a huge firework show.”

Bedivere swallowed. He knew this already, it was there in the thumb drive, every last bit of detail. Calming himself down, he leaned over the wall and tried to weigh down the odds of fighting down five burly men, when he saw Galahad slowly getting up, a hand reaching back for his gun. In that nanosecond when Galahad made eye contact with him, cold dread washed over him.

It happened in a split second, Galahad pushing the Prime Minister in his direction, before ramming into one of the guards’ back, causing a flurry of action. 

Bedivere pulled the Prime Minister’s arm and ran, explaining in a rush, “Me and that man who just fucking saved your life are with the Kingsman.” He could hear gunshots and grunts and bodies flopping dead.

Shinkai wouldn’t push the button, he was sure, not when he’s still within the vicinity. 

Bedivere shouted over the earpiece that he’s got the Prime Minister so Elyan better be on the ready. He cursed loudly when Merlin didn’t give any confirmation, shoving the Prime Minister in one of the rooms in the villa and locked it behind him. The Prime Minister pounded on the door, shouting, “Let me out of here!” 

“I’ll come get you later,” he replied hastily before running back to where he came from. The last reactor was still very much active, and there was the possibility that Shinkai might actually be mad enough to still activate it.

When he returned, there was blood everywhere; at first glance, there were at least seven bodies lying dead, and he didn’t linger too long on them, afraid to see which pool of blood belongs to whom. _The last reactor_ , he reminded himself.

Unscrewing the plate, Bedivere ripped the heat coil off and tossed it away. That done, he immediately went to check the bloodied mess of bodies.

He miscalculated. There were eight dead bodies, one of them being the mastermind himself, and one barely alive; Galahad was lying in a pool of his own blood, the rise and fall of his chest heavy and few in between breaths. Crouching down next to him, Bedivere assessed the damage.

Never mind his face, Galahad was beyond recognising, his right wrist was pretty badly twisted, but the worst was the bullet wound on his side. With shaking hands, Bedivere pressed both hands onto the wound, applying as much pressure to slow down the blood loss. At the pressure, Galahad winced and his body shook violently as he coughed up blood.

“Merlin,” Bedivere said, “Daichi’s pretty badly wounded. Gunshot to the side.”

Within seconds, his hands were covered in the other’s blood. “Please tell me Yaku’s on his way.”

“He’ll be there in ten, with paramedics,” Merlin replied, voice quiet. 

Ten minutes, Bedivere replayed in his head, throwing the number around, deliberating whether or not that was too long with how much blood Galahad was losing. 

“Hey,” he said softly, trying to see if Galahad was still conscious. 

Galahad cracked an eye open and whimpered in reply.

Bedivere pressed harder. “How you feeling?”

A sound akin to a dog dying rumbled out of Galahad’s mouth, and Bedivere belatedly realised he was trying to laugh but as it were, there was a gaping hole in his side and he was bleeding to death so laughing was not the best idea.

Bedivere laughed, it sounded hollow even to his own ears, before saying, “Stupid question, sorry.”

Galahad was saying something but Bedivere couldn’t really decipher his jumbled words; all he knew was that Galahad needs to shut up and save his energy to breathe properly, as much as he can anyway.

“Don’t talk,” he chided, “you’re wasting your energy.”

The longer he waited and pressed, the quicker the colour on Galahad’s face blanched. Bedivere could feel the other’s life slipping out of him, and he hissed an angry, “Yaku, where the fuck are you?!”

Right then, he heard footsteps, a rushed ‘Over here!’ and Elyan’s face came bounding through the hallway like a beacon of light, followed by the doctors working for Kingsman. Bedivere slumped in relief when one of the doctors took over applying pressure, rattling off blood pressure and puncture wounds. 

Bedivere sat there, numb, staring dumbly as they carried Galahad onto a stretcher, and away. Elyan was peering at him, concern written all over his face, as he asked, “Are you okay?”

He wasn’t sure how to answer, so he asked, “Is he gonna make it?” instead.

“They’ll do their best,” Elyan replied, in as placating a voice he could manage. Bedivere could only nod.

  


*

  


*

  


When Galahad came to, all he could see was white, it was blinding.

The first thought that came to mind was, _Am I dead?_

That was when he heard a familiar beeping sound and the drip drop of something, but couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was, his mind and entire body felt numb. Are you supposed to even _feel_ when you’re dead, was his next thought.

He sniffed the air. It reeked of antiseptic.

Galahad groaned. 

He wasn’t dead, he was in a hospital, and that incessant dripping was his IV drops. He glanced at the IV stand. There were two bags: saline and blood. His attempts at recollecting his memory of what happened was interrupted abruptly when the door to his room slid open. 

Bedivere was on the phone when he entered, eyes immediately on Galahad but his mind somewhere else. When he saw how very much awake Galahad was, staring at him wide eyed, he paused both in motion and speech.

Galahad didn’t know why he was holding his breath as he waited for the other’s reaction.

“He’s awake,” Bedivere said, and Galahad was about to demand why the hell is he referring to him in third person when he realised that Bedivere was probably talking to whoever it was on the other end of the line. 

Snapping his phone shut, Bedivere sauntered over to the bed and breathed out a soft, “You’re awake.”

“Yeah, I…” he started, but was interrupted by a flurry of action; the nurses came barrelling in with trolleys, clipboards and charts, the doctor following behind them. One of the nurses shooed Bedivere out of the room.

The offended look Bedivere directed at the nurse was so ridiculous Galahad would have laughed at him, if not for the fact that he felt the same. He wanted him there, damn it.

Before he could even voice his thoughts, the nurses cut him off with the click of the door and the snap of the curtain, giving him a meaningful look (although he didn’t see the use of the curtain since he was in a private room anyway). But he acquiesced and let them prod him however they like.

Galahad listened to the nurse rattling off his blood pressure to the doctor, another reading his morphine intake and his saline readings, and another was checking his side. He peered down curiously and saw white gauze covering his side; he winced when fingers gently pressed at the skin surrounding the white bandage and the doctor jot something down on his clipboard. 

When the nurse softly peeled the thing off, he felt his mouth dry at the long ugly line of marred skin, stitched up and bruised. He was still healing. How long has he been out?

“You were unconscious for three days now,” the doctor began, reading the report on his clipboard.

You got shot, and you were bleeding to your death when Kuroo-san found you. He did a good job at keeping pressure on your entry wound. Consider yourself lucky, though; it was a clean shot, no bullet fragments found in your tissue, and the bullet merely missed your kidney. It would have been a lot worst if it didn’t. However, you lost a lot of blood; the nurse thought the blood on Kuroo-san’s suit was his and not yours. I’ve already notified the others of your condition so expect some visitors in the next hour.

The words washed over him like water would through sift; he couldn’t quite determine how to feel about anything.

“I’m pretty sure Kuroo-san will fill you in on your mission, so don’t worry too much about it,” the doctor finished. Once the nurse was done with changing his gauze, the doctor gave him a warning look before leaving him in peace. “Don’t move around too much for at least a week, unless you want to reopen your wound.”

Finally being left alone, Galahad breathed out a sigh. Wincing at the sharp pain that shot through his side, he pushed the up button on the remote control resting in his hand. He watched the morphine level going way beyond what was necessary and felt his body sag in relief, pain almost gone. He was tempted to push the up button again, when the door slid open, Bedivere stepping in. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Bedivere said, his eyes trained on Galahad’s finger still hovering over the button. He glanced at Galahad’s morphine level and clucked his tongue disapprovingly.

“It hurts,” Galahad replied a bit too defensively.

Bedivere just hummed as he plucked the control from Galahad’s hand and turned his morphine level to safe grounds. “There’s nothing wrong with a little bit of pain.” 

Galahad snorted at the cheeky expression on Bedivere’s face. “You’re disgusting.”

“You kissed me, remember,” he said, “so you can’t call me disgusting.”

Reigning in the smile that was about to spread across his face, Galahad gave the other an unimpressed look. “Is that how it works now?”

Bedivere crossed his arms and nodded seriously. “Of course.”

There was a pause, before Galahad tugged on Bedivere’s sleeve.

Bedivere looked at him questioningly, but seeing as Galahad had scooted over to leave space for him on the bed, he complied quietly. The bed creaked dangerously at the added weight. Bedivere was lying on his side, clutching at Galahad, mindful of his wounds. “Ow,” he whined, “this is so not romantic. The railing is digging on my back.” 

Galahad chuckled softly as he tried to give the other more space. There was some shuffling and manoeuvring until they both ended up on their backs. Galahad half on top of the other; Bedivere had one arm wound behind Galahad’s neck to rest on his chest, tapping softly on the skin there, his other arm tucked behind his own head.

“Better?” Galahad asked, his voice was laced with humour. The _you big baby_ was left unsaid but was heard loud and clear. Bedivere just hummed in reply.

Shifting a bit so he could lie on his side, Galahad slotted himself in the space in Bedivere’s arm, peering up at him. He swallowed before asking, softly, “Are you okay?”

Bedivere stared at him with an incredulous look. “I’m not the one in the hospital bed,” he said.

Biting his lip, Galahad played with a stray thread on the other’s jumper. “The nurse said you were kind of out of your mind when, you know…”

Bedivere sighed, jostling Galahad who was resting his cheek on his chest. He tightened his arm that was draped over Galahad’s shoulder. “Well, you were dying, so that wasn’t fun.”

“Didn’t really do it on purpose, you know,” Galahad said. Relaying his memory back to the day it happened, he remembered seeing from the corner of his eye Shinkai grabbing one of the dead bodyguard’s gun and aiming poorly at him when he was busy struggling with the others. “Thank god Shinkai was a bad shooter.”

“Still got you pretty bad,” Bedivere retorted, voice tight. 

His entire body was rigid; Galahad assumed he was thinking back on that day too. He nudged Bedivere’s chin with his head, earning a confused hum before he reached up and laid a quick peck on his lips.

Bedivere made an unintelligible noise before he leaned down and caught his lips in a proper kiss. But before they could really get into it, they were interrupted by someone clearing their throat. 

By the door, Lancelot stood there with a smile so innocent, as if he hadn’t just been interrupting in on a very intimate moment, but Galahad couldn’t really chastise him especially not when his eyes landed on the two figures behind him.

“You guys…” he said. Not really believing his eyes at the two boys fidgeting uncomfortably behind Lancelot. He turned to look at Lancelot for an explanation, but the other just grinned wider.

“They’ve been pestering me to go and see you.”

At that, Kageyama and Hinata spluttered and squawked.

“But I thought you guys,” Galahad began, but amended with, “You’re back in?”

The two just nodded in confirmation. 

When the three stepped in, Bedivere made to jump out of the bed, feeling a bit awkward all of a sudden, but Galahad clutched onto him tighter.

“Uhm, this is really awkward,” Bedivere said, motioning with his head to the other three in the room, not really bothering with subtlety.

“I’m a patient, I can do whatever I want,” Galahad complained.

Kageyama was darting his eyes all over the place, trying his hardest not to stare, while Hinata was all out staring, his lips trembling in what Galahad thought was the beginning of the coos Lancelot didn’t even bother covering.

Clearing his throat, Kageyama bowed. “Get well soon, Sawamura-san,” he said, before dragging a still staring Hinata with him out of the room. 

“Kageyama, Hinata,” he called out. The two paused and turned to him, a confused look on their faces. Galahad gave them a warm smile. “Thank you, for coming.”

Hinata scrambled back into the room to give him and a bewildered Bedivere a big hug, wailing, “Daichi-saaaaaan,” loudly.

Galahad laughed and just patted Hinata on the back. Then, Lancelot joined in the hug with a teasing, “Daichi~” earning a grumble from Bedivere, who was growing more and more weirded out by this entire display.

Bedivere looked at Kageyama, raising a brow. “Well? Not joining in?”

Kageyama shook his head profusely, blushing. “I’m good.”

The entire thing would have blown over except then there was a gasp coming from behind Kageyama, who turned around to be greeted by two other guys; one with wild hair, the other with a neutral face.

“Group hug!” The one with the wild hair exclaimed before bounding over to the bed and landing on top of Lancelot, who was on top of Bedivere. There was an ‘Oof’ and then an exasperated, ‘Bokuto, get off.’

“What’s going on?” The one with the neutral face asked.

Kageyama scratched his head. “They’re hugging each other.”

Humming in reply, the other guy turned to him and extended a hand. “Akaashi,” he said, by way of greeting.

Kageyama took the proffered hand and shook it, replying with an awkward, “Kageyama.”

Gesturing to the scene before him, Kageyama asked, “Is this normal?”

Akaashi shrugged. “As normal as it gets.”

Looking back and forth from the hugging pile to Akaashi, who was just regarding the scene before him with a bored look, Kageyama felt the whole thing to be even more bizarre. 

The Kingsman was supposed to be calm and collected, serious; charm and stealth was supposedly their mode of operation. This was nothing like any of the above.

  


  
  


**Author's Note:**

> in case anyone got confused:
> 
> Nekomata - Arthur  
> Ukai - Merlin  
> Daichi - Galahad  
> Suga - Lancelot  
> Kuroo - Bedivere  
> Yaku - Elyan  
> Bokuto - Kay  
> Akaashi - Cador  
> Oikawa - Gareth  
> Iwa-chan - Gawain  
> Ushiwaka - Percival (altho i only mentioned him once haha)
> 
> also, there might be another installment to this au and it's going to be kagehina centric. and after that, there _might_ be another one. idk yet.
> 
> so, yeah... thank you for taking the time to read this :')


End file.
